Much is said and written about Lake Ladoga. And not in vain: it contains a huge number of mysteries. This is the mystery of its formation, and amazing flora and fauna, and incomprehensible sound and light phenomena observed from time to time in the lake. Our story is about an equally amazing secret of Ladoga - a huge monster unknown to science that lives in the depths of the lake.
The amazing mystery of Ladoga - a huge monster unknown to science that lives in the depths of the lake
A resident of the village of Mantsinsaari, Pitkyaranta region of Karelia, A. S., relates the observation of a strange creature to 1973. Konovalov. “In the summer of 1973, we hunted fish on Ladoga. It was a bright sunny day. There was almost no wind. Looking at the smooth surface of the lake, we saw in the distance an object on the water and shining brightly in the sun. Actually, that's why we noticed him. At first they thought that maybe some boat turned over and even decided to go up to it to check, but after looking closely, they saw that the “object” was alive!
He slowly sailed along the coast, but it was clear that he was approaching us. To be honest, we freaked out, started the engine and went straight to the shore, since it was not far away. Even at one time my father told me that there is some kind of monster in the lake, and people say that somewhere he was allegedly seen somewhere. I didn't really believe it, but then I suddenly remembered all this.
Climbing onto the coastal terrace, we continued our observation and made sure that it was some kind of huge animal. It was approaching, and it was already possible to see those parts of it that protruded from the water. Its body length is about ten meters; it was massive, dark gray in color. A large head rested on a long neck.
We even noticed the expression in the eyes of this monster: they were widely spaced, and they felt ferocity and anger. Not reaching the shore a few tens of meters, it stopped, then vigorously beat on the water, raising a cascade of splashes, and dived. The animal did not show again, although at this place we were for a long time, afraid to go out into the lake."
Pyotr Ermolaev, a resident of the village of Uuksu, the same Pitkyaranta region, according to him, was fishing somewhere in the mid-eighties, having moved a sufficient distance into the lake. “Suddenly, fifty meters from my boat, water boiled, and the head of a monster of a dark gray color surfaced,” recalls Ermolaev. - Opening a huge mouth, the beast made a hissing sound and immediately disappeared under the water. I must have turned gray this minute."
A resident of the Karelian city of Sortavala, Mikhail Bardin, being on one of the islands located near the city, observed the monster through binoculars from a distance of two hundred meters.
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“A small head on a graceful neck appeared above the water, very large eyes were clearly visible. The animal apparently hunted, prowling its head in different directions. Then the head disappeared under the water. Thank God that it was far enough away and did not pay any attention to me."
But the Zvonin family from the urban-type settlement of Salmi tells the legendary story of their daughter, who at the age of ten saw a strange animal. “I could throw a pebble at him,” the girl said. - I saw the long and flexible neck of an animal with a small graceful head, and I liked it. Then it disappeared under the water."
How should we treat all these, albeit few, messages? To completely ignore them, or still try to understand a difficult issue?
We offer three possible explanations: it is about false testimony; persons who sincerely believe that they have seen a living being are in fact mistaken; the real unidentified animal actually lives in Lake Ladoga.
In response to these possible explanations, we can assume that someone, having lived a long and unblemished life, unexpectedly tells an apparently false story and becomes a universal laughing stock. You need to know the life of a Karelian village or a small village in order to understand that there is no point in any such deliberate lie. This is simply not accepted by local residents and is always condemned. But the fact that their grandfathers and great-grandfathers passed on such “incredible” stories “by inheritance” makes us take the above-mentioned stories more seriously.
Apparently, sincere delusions of witnesses can also be attributed here. To assume that the observer saw not a living creature, but a "accumulation of algae" or "a half-submerged tree trunk" is analogous to an insult, because a resident of the Karelian hinterland, who spends most of his life on rivers and lakes, has always been distinguished by professionalism, observation and excellent knowledge of his fishing places. There remains every reason not to exclude the possibility of the real existence of some unknown animal in our native Lake Ladoga.
By the way, Ladoga is far from the only place in the world where such mysterious creatures are observed. In Iceland, there are still legends about the existence of a mysterious animal scrimsl in the lakes. In Canada, in British Columbia, they tell from the time of the Indians about the existence of a huge animal ogopogo in Lake Okanagan. In Ireland, the existence of a large unidentified animal has also been observed in four lakes since 1945. The Swedish press has repeatedly reported on the mysterious inhabitants of the country's six lakes. And the famous Loch Ness monster in Scotland!
Ladoga is far from the only place in the world where such mysterious creatures are observed.
And our Russian researchers also encountered the mysterious inhabitants of the lakes. Let us recall at least the message of the zoologist M. Gladskikh about Lake Khainyr in Northern Yakutia, where the mysterious "northern monster" lives. And the numerous reports of sailors about amazing encounters with unknown giant animals, sea snakes in different parts of the oceans of the world!
Well what then? Despite the fact that the mysterious inhabitant of Lake Ladoga rarely shows us his "face", we will try to investigate this one of the most amazing mysteries of Ladoga.
Svetlana Yavorskaya